A. It was full of challenges, musical and artistic, working over seas, coordinating with different time zones , real time studio to studio - composed each number and arranging keeping in mind my collaborators' musical repertoire- not easy, OMG! But you know I did it - with success.
Q. How important is it for you to collaborate with musicians from different musical cultures?
A. I want to share things with other musicians as well as learn and act creating a new territory of music. Living on the edge. If you see my albums I did only exclusive collaboration albums and each one is different- except one Indian raga music album of my own. Collaboration is an exercise between knowledge plus taste plus culture of music and awareness of artistic challenge to recreate something tasteful, enjoyable and attractive. In collaboration you can't hide.
Q. Are there any musicians you would love to work with?
A. Jerry Douglas, Tomani Daibete, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Bela Flek, John McLaughlin and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Jake Shimbokuru, top Irish Celtic musicians, as well with The Philharmonic Orchestra of London. And with my Hawaiian band.
Q. You have your daughter Anandi with you in the band. What is that like?
A. Working with her is great fun, she is very composed and super talented... She knows me musically very very well - you will see that on stage.
Q. How do you enjoy playing for e British audience?
A. I think UK audience is one of the best so far I've experienced in 30 years of traveling the world.
Q. You play the lap steel guitar, an instrument associated with Hawaii and US country music. How did you come to play this in India?
A. My musical parents and their ancestors never played any instrument - they were all singers, my father got a Hawaiian guitar from a friend before I was born. I got it in hand at the age three and loved the sound and till today the relationship is uninterrupted, musical and loving. I’m trained in Indian classical music and used the lap steel guitar to express my art as lap steel guitar is closest to human voice - it's a singing instrument. But it was hard on me; in order to achieve the wholesome performing style I had to create at least twenty different things in skill and designing a new lap steel guitar of my own and had to patent it to protect the identity of this newborne instrument. I've had to bring it up to the standard of the classical Indian music instrumentally, technically and most importantly, musically. I always get to see people talking in India - they can't believe themselves that Raga music can sound so perfect in the way my guitar makes it sound. It is hard though to make living on playing ragas on guitar in India. But humbly I did it- by taking the hardest way of challenging my ability and feeling responsible - if I didn't do it no one else would.
The Hawaii connection: I've researched the route and the musicians responsible for bringing Hawaiian music and guitars to India and found them: in 2004 I met Tau Moe and his daughter Dorian Moe who was born in Calcutta. I honoured him with playing a full concert just for him in his village Laie before he passed away. I since recorded a full length album with Hawaiian musicians and played their Hawaiian steel guitars. This made the full circle from the Hawaiian to the Indian guitar. (For ranges of my guitar refer to debashishguitar.com)
Q. Can you say something about some of the music you will play on the tour – are the songs traditional or contemporary
A. It's a journey of my musical life traditional to contemporary. Raga to Beyond the RagaSphere.
Q. Who are your musical influences?
A. Nature , beauty, painting, perfume, food; my parents, my grand father,Ustad Allauddin Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar Ustad Ali Akbar, Ustad Alla Rakha, Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Pt Nikhil Banerjee, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan , Ustad Ameer Khan, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pt Brij Bhushan Kabra and many others. B.B.King, Ray Charles, Paco De Lucia, African music from Mali, Blue Grass, Hawaiian melody, Chinese pentatonic music, Irish music, Mozart, Bach and other Western classical composers, folk music of Eastern Europe - all influenced, awakened and helped me to understand what actually music is and what it does to the performer and audience and helped me to stand where I'm today.
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